Five Things – OSU Defense

We know that our readers, Ohio State fans especially, are very smart football fans. We don’t need to tell you guys what to look for during the BCS Bourbon Bowl. We definitely don’t need to tell you when to get nervous nor when to spontaneously break into Carmen Ohio.

Nevertheless, here are five things we’ll be looking for Ohio State to do when they take the field as the #1 defense in the country:

5. Aggressive start – If we can take anything away from Michigan’s trouncing of Florida or West Virginia’s wild upset of Oklahoma, it’s that the defense can set the tone with an aggressive start. Flynn isn’t as much of a threat to run as say, Tebow, or to throw it downfield as say, Bradford, but the Buckeyes need to get pressure early and often.

4. How will the interior lineman play? Denlinger and Worthington are a little undersized for defensive tackles. The Tigers are huge up the middle, especially with 6-7, 356 pound human-side-of-beef guard Herman Johnson. If you want to know why LSU averages almost 220 yards a game on the ground, look no further than these bulldozers. Hopefully the Buckeye defensive tackles will be able to absorb some blockers and let Little Animal and company roam free.

3. Defensive secondary – The LSU pass offense doesn’t really scare too many people (Flynn’s completion % hovers around 55%), but they still have playmakers, especially Doucet. If Jenkins shuts him down, that will go miles in assisting the defense on many levels. The secondary is also going to have to defense the run effectively. This has been a hallmark of Buckeye DB’s in the past, let’s hope that trend continues.

2. Which Laurinaitis shows up? The Laurinaitis that took over the Washington game and played like a Big Animal or the Laurinaitis that showed up at the Penn State game? Will he be a defensive force all over the field or will he struggle to stop the run when 300 lb guards push him around like so many rag dolls? As Little Animal goes, so will go the Buckeyes.

1. Finally, you knew it was coming — Vernon Gholston. Vernon has been playing like a man possessed the second half of the season and played unconscious against Michigan. Don’t look now, but LSU likes to give up a lot of sacks. If Vernon is terrorizing Flynn and Perrilloux then there will be no amount of hammers that will be able to beat the smile of my face.